


Counterfeit

by crabapple



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-28
Updated: 2017-11-28
Packaged: 2019-02-07 22:00:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12850374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crabapple/pseuds/crabapple
Summary: “Tell me, Chosen One, were their deaths worth it?”





	Counterfeit

**Author's Note:**

> A messy beginning to Noctis royally fucking up the timeline in a typical Lucian fashion. Written in January of this year. 
> 
> In honor of my last semester of college, I’m cleaning out my hard drive. Expect plenty more fic to appear in the next few weeks. I’m even going update my posted WIP.

Black rain relentlessly poured onto the broken city of Insomnia. Terrifying creatures roamed its shattered streets, snarling and screeching into the night. Pinpricks of light dotted the city, pockets of fire slowly going out under the force of the downpour. From the center of the city, small droplets of light were rising up into the storm. Two men were at its source, the only sign of human life in the ruined capital.

Quiet words were murmured up into the rain, and the King of Kings leaned forward to listen to the final words of his destined enemy.

…

“Tell me, _Chosen One_ , were their deaths worth it?”

Noctis clenched his fists but remained silent. He would let Ardyn have his last insults before Noctis finished it for them both. He couldn’t even muster the anger that had driven him forward at the beginning of their fight. All he had left now was emptiness and a deep exhaustion.

Ardyn smiled, his teeth black with blood and darkness. “The gods made fools of us all.” A wet cough rocked what was left of his body. “How I wish things could have been different.”

Noctis closed his eyes and pulled away as the last sparks from Ardyn’s body floated up into the rain. He remained where he was, even though he still had a duty to fulfill.

He had made his peace.

He was ready to end it.

He had to die for the sake of the world.

Or at least, that’s what he kept telling himself, over and over. The determination that he had thought was unyielding had been shaken by that quiet admission. He was rooted to the spot with the idea that a man who was his worst enemy had regrets. Regrets that were far too familiar.

Because, as his knees began to throb and the relentless rain soaked him through, Noctis felt his peace begin to unravel. He wanted to change his fate.

…

_You have proven yourself unworthy._

A stabbing and excruciating pain raced up his arm, and Noctis opened his eyes with a scream. The pain was only spreading and intensifying. He didn’t understand. He thought death was supposed to be a quiet eternity.

Gladiolus appeared over him, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him, yelling words he couldn’t understand. Noctis detachedly realized that he was still screaming in pain, and clamped his mouth shut through will power alone.

“It’s the ring of Lucii! Where did it come from?” Ignis was yelling at Gladiolus, a sharp and panicked tone that Noctis had never heard before. “We need to get it off of him!”

Noctis let his gaze shift away from his friends and looked at the hand that felt like it was being slowly skinned with acid covered knifes. He saw the ring sitting innocently on his blackened hand. Even when banishing the darkness, he had never felt such pain from it.

His mind screeched to a halt, and even the pain faded as his brain stuttered to process what was happening. He had banished the darkness, even destroyed the remnants of Ardyn’s soul at the cost of his own. He shouldn’t be feeling pain. He shouldn’t even exist. 

He opened his mouth again, and his screamed resumed. The argument that Ignis and Gladio were having was interrupted, and Noctis finally noticed Prompto standing next to his bed, wringing his hands.

He shaped his screaming into a word, because at that moment, Noctis didn’t know who else he could possibly blame for this.

“ **ARDYN**!”

He closed his eyes and gave into the pain. It had crawled all the way up to his neck, and Noctis was sure he would die from pain alone if something wasn’t done. (Even though his mind spun, because wasn’t he already dead?)

Someone was holding his burning hand and his eyes flew open again to meet the face of his enemy. Ardyn’s eyes were an ordinary brown, and his mouth was open slightly, as if he was surprised.

Gladiolus was yelling, and Noctis glanced over to see that he had been thrown back into Ignis by Ardyn’s sudden appearance. He bounded back up and snarled, ready to attack, and Noctis found his voice again.

“It’s alright!” He found that the pain had lessened within Ardyn’s grasp, though he couldn’t possibly understand why that would help.

“Noctis, what is going on?” Ignis demanded as he stood up from where he had been knocked back by Gladiolus.

Noctis turned his gaze back to Ardyn and asked in a voice that shook, “Get it off of me.”

Ardyn’s mouth twisted itself into a vicious smile and he laughed. “My dear Noct, you never cease to surprise me.”

For a moment Noctis was sure Ardyn would simply leave him to his fate, but darkness gathered in his hand and surrounded the Ring of Lucii. Noctis dimly noticed he was screaming again, and he wondered if he would even have an arm left when this was finished. He felt as if something within him was struggling against the ring, trying to keep it from completely overtaking him. Agonizing moments stretched on, before finally he found relief. The terrible blackened state of his arm began to slowly recede.

Ardyn had a small ball of darkness in his palm that shifted into a black ring box before Noctis’ eyes. A hysterical thought flashed though his mind that it looked like a morbid version of an engagement ring box.

“Time travel,” Ardyn murmured reverently to the ring. “It shouldn’t be possible.”

That was precisely when all hell broke loose. Gladiolus couldn’t contain his fear and rage any longer and lunged for Ardyn, who simply _vanished_ in response. The box landed onto the metal floor of the RV along with Gladiolus.

“What the hell was that?” He snarled as he righted himself again. His eyes were scanning the RV as if he would find Ardyn popping out of a cupboard.

Ignis was pushing past him and took Noctis’ now unblemished hand in his. “Noctis, where does it hurt?” He had a potion in his other hand.

“I’m alright,” Noctis rasped out. His eyes trailed over Galdiolus’ furious and worried face and the shine of fear in Prompto’s eyes.

“It’ll all be okay now, I promise.” He was so exhausted, as much as he had been after being stabbed by every single one of the Lucian arms. He closed his eyes and knew no more.


End file.
